TEXT ANIMATION DEFINITION

Text animation” is a broad term in computer graphics that refers to creating moving letters, words or paragraphs. In animation, it relates to creating text that moves in some fashion across the screen, within an area, or by following a pattern of motion. A less frequently used meaning is in the context of an animation that is created using only text characters so each of the elements within the animation are made of letters, numbers, punctuation marks or other symbols. There are a wide range of special effects that can be used with text animation, many of which are identical to traditional three-dimensional (3D) animation effects and two-dimensional (2D) image filters. In professional film and video, broadcast television and in presentations, text is often animated to create interesting transitions from one topic to the next or to accent important information.

Gone are the days when editors just edited videos. Due to high demands in the industry, the editor has evolved from simple storyteller to a one-person team of motion designer, audio mixer, and video editor. As an editor, you now need to use Adobe After Effects in your projects to give you an edge, or else risk being left behind by your competition, and one of the most common uses for AE is text animation.

Text animations, even simple ones, can give your videos that needed boost to make them more dynamic. In After Effects, text layers can be animated using animation presets, text animators, transform properties, and expressions. In this tutorial, we’ll go through creating text layers, animating text using the transform properties, applying text animation presets, and using text animators to animate text.

After Effects includes hundreds of animation, text and effect options, as well as a complicated and
potentially overwhelming set of tools that helps in text animations

To animate text:

1. Select Composition > New Composition. In the
   Composition Settings dialog box, name the composition
   Text Animation, select an appropriate video
   preset, accept the other defaults, and click OK.
2. In the Tools panel, select the Horizontal Type tool.
   Click anywhere in the Composition panel screen, and
   type some text.
   A text layer appears in the Timeline panel.
3. Display the text layer’s effects by clicking the triangle
   next to its name.
4. In the Animate menu, select Position .
   In the Timeline panel, the Text options expand
   further and the Animator 1 options are added
   
5. Expand the Animator 1 options, expand the Range
   Selector 1 options, and set Position to 0, 800.
   The text drops below the Composition panel screen.
   Note: Depending on the presets you selected for the
   composition, you may need to use a different position
   value to move the text below the Composition panel
   screen.
6. In the Magnification Ratio menu of the Composition
   panel, select 25%
   The text bounding box and handles appear at the
   bottom of the Composition panel screen.
   Timeline panel, Animator 1 options
   Timeline panel, Text Animate options
   Animate menu
   Compostion panel
   Magnification

In the Timeline panel, set keyframes for the Start
option: 0% at the beginning and 100% a few seconds
into the composition (Figure 28).
The text appears on-screen again.

8. Play this composition.
   The text jumps up from beneath the screen, one letter
   at a time.
9. In the Animator 1 Add menu, select Property > Skew.
   Skew and Skew Axis options appear in the Timeline
   panel.
10. Set Skew to 45 and play the composition.
    The letters appear on-screen, skewed to the right, and
    then quickly straighten up as they arrive in place.
11. In the Animator 1 Add menu, select Property > Opacity.
    The Opacity option appears in the Timeline panel.
12. Set Opacity to 0% and play the composition.
    The letters start animating at 0% opacity and quickly
    increase to 100% as they arrive in place.
13. In the Animator 1 Add menu, select Selector >
    Wiggly.
    The Wiggly Selector 1 option appears in the Timeline
    panel.
14. Display the Wiggly Selector 1 options.
    You can accept the defaults or change the settings. The options are plentiful.
15. Play the composition.
    

To apply per-character animation:

1. Select Composition > New Composition.
2. In the Composition Settings dialog box, name the composition Character Animation, select an appropriate video
   preset, accept the other defaults, and click OK.
3. In the Tools panel, select the Horizontal Type tool. Click anywhere in the Composition panel screen, and type
   enough text to fill the width of the screen.
   A text layer appears in the Timeline panel.
   
4. Expand the text layer’s options. In the Text Animate
   menu of the Timeline panel, select Scale.
   An Animator 1 option is added, with Range Selector 1
   and Scale displayed (Figure 30).
5. Set both Scale values to 300%.
6. In the Animator 1 Add menu, select Property >
   Tracking, and set Tracking Amount to 30.
7. Expand the Range Selector 1 options and set the
   
   • In the Advanced options Units menu, select
   Index.
   • Set Start to 0.
   • Set End to 3 (to animate 3 characters at a
   time).
   • Click the Offset option Time-Vary stopwatch
   button and set two keyframes:
   • At the beginning of the composition: –3
   • A few seconds into the composition, with
   Offset set to the number of characters
   and spaces in your text phrase
   Note: With a starting Offset value of –3, the animation
   starts three characters before the first character. If you
   had chosen a value of 0, the first three characters
   would initially display at 300% of their normal size. By
   selecting –3, the 300% value is applied to three virtual
   characters at the outset. The actual first three
   characters of your text string are treated as the 4th
   through 6th characters of this animation, so they
   initially display at their regular size.
8. In the Timeline panel, click the text layer name
   (whatever you typed in the Composition panel) to
   select that layer.
   Note: This ensures that the next Animate menu
   selection creates a separate Animator option.
9. In the Text Animate menu, select Fill Color > RGB.
   An Animator 2 option is added, with Range Selector
   1 and Fill Color displayed (Figure 32).
   Note: The Fill Color default color is Red. You can
   change that and use keyframes to animate color
   changes over time. In this case, let the Wiggly
   function change the intensity of a single color.